Reno Not Giving Up on Doe No. 2 / Workers nearing end of search in Oklahoma City

Associated Press

Published 4:00 am, Friday, May 5, 1995

1995-05-05 04:00:00 PDT Oklahoma City -- Attorney General Janet Reno insisted yesterday that the trail has not gone cold in the hunt for John Doe No. 2. At the bombed-out building, crews moved closer to giving up the search with 18 still missing and presumed dead.

Workers began sifting through the last six-foot pile of unsearched rubble. They planned to work through the night if necessary and then finally accept that some victims may never be found.

"I had wanted to find everybody," said fire Captain Richard Bell. "But I realize now a lot are just gone."

Once the rescuers quit, families will be allowed to gather at the scene for one last, private remembrance.

In Washington, Reno admitted disappointment that John Doe No. 2, the second suspect in the bombing, has not been identified or taken into custody.

But she said the FBI is following thousands of leads in the April 19 bombing, the deadliest domestic terror attack in U.S. history.

The arrest and release of two drifters originally believed to be linked to bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh, the only person charged so far, demonstrate that "it is also important that people who are not guilty, who are not implicated, are quickly clarified as such," Reno said.

"And so I'm glad that that process worked where those very unusual coincidences took place," the attorney general said.

With the government offering a $2 million reward, a hotline has gotten more than 36,000 calls, from which more than 14,800 substantive leads have been written up and sent to FBI offices around the nation to check out, a federal official said on condition of anonymity.

That was done as a precaution, said the official, who demanded anonymity. The penalties for lying to a grand jury are greater than those for lying to the FBI, and the grand jury can issue warrants to search any of the men's possessions or property, the official noted.

A law enforcement source said the FBI is studying videotape from an Oklahoma trooper's car to check a witness report that a brown pickup truck stopped ahead of McVeigh's car when the suspect was arrested after the bombing.

The Dallas Morning News reported that authorities were trying to enhance the image of the film, saying the truck's license plate was captured by the videotape. The camera showed the pickup pulled over when McVeigh stopped, the paper said, quoting an anonymous source.

A Highway Patrol spokesman said he knew nothing about the tape, and the FBI refused to comment.

In other developments:

-- Twenty-four children from seven U.S. cities arrived in Oklahoma City bearing letters of condolence. They arrived late Wednesday to visit schools in the area to meet with and talk to other children and offer support and cheer in a program sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service. At least 16 children were killed in the bombing.

-- The last out-of-town search and rescue team, a unit from Orange County, Calif., made a side trip to an elementary school before flying home.